Computer Programmer Salary Report: Job Description

A computer programmer writes code based upon specifications written by systems analysts, their own interpretations of user requirements, and specifications and designs they have written themselves. The amount of control the programmer has over the design of a particular computer program or system depends on their level of education or experience. The size of the organization they work for along with the structure of that organization as well.

For example, a junior programmer or programmer trainee is often given the task of writing small programs or modules that are a part of larger systems. They are usually provided with very detailed instructions on how their code should be written. An advanced programmer may be given the leeway to meet with end users, gather requirements, write specifications, and design screens.

The terms programmer and software developer can be interchangeable. However, in many cases, a software developer tends to work with PC and Networking languages. Programmers often work in larger organizations in industries including but not limited to banking, finance, manufacturing, insurance, and healthcare. Programmers frequently write and maintain programs that are run on computer systems such as mainframes rather than personal computers, tablets, or smartphones.

In a larger organization, a computer programmer or even programming team might be assigned to work for one specific business area. They may also be divided in teams dealing with support and maintenance, and research and development. In addition to writing and maintaining programs, many coders must write documentation. This includes inline documentation as well as user and developer manuals. They might also design test cases and execute testing on new or maintained programs. Full life cycle developers are responsible for all phases from requirements gathering to design to coding to testing to implementation.

Programmers can earn a living by knowing a variety of programming languages. These include SQL, C++, Visual Basic, Cobol, PHP, Ruby on Rails, and many more. In some industries, proprietary languages dominate.

A programmer might develop programs and systems entirely from scratch. However, many larger companies purchase software packages that they using for tracking financials, payroll, accounts payable and receivable, sales, data warehousing, and a variety of other business functions. If they use in house programming staff or contract with others, they may purchase the rights to modify the source code of these software packages. Then, programming staff is used to customize these packages to meet the business owner’s specific needs.

In a given day, a programmer might write a quick fix to a program that is causing an error condition, debug another troublesome program, participate in a project meeting, submit a set of specifications for approval, and work on a programming assignment. They might also contact a system administrator to request access to a server, or ask a DBA to create a new view over a file for them.

Average Computer Programmer Salary Report: Educational Requirements

Most programmers do have some level of post high school education. For many, this is an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in computer programming or computer science. Others go to technical skills. In some cases, they gain experience through military service or work as computer or printer operators before moving into programming. You can find out more from
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Programmer’s Salary Report: Job Satisfaction And Growth Potential

Growth potential depends largely on the particular industry, computer platform, and languages in which the developer specializes. For example, mainframe developers are seeing negative growth in many places. On the other hand, Unix developers are seeing fairly healthy levels of job prospects and growth. In spite of all of this, most people who are programmers are happy with their careers.